Bible Bowl-ing

At first I thought this was some weird church sport. Okay, I'll admit, I didn't have a CLUE!!!! I'll be the first to admit it ... I'm not ashamed. Not at all ... well, of not knowing. But I am ashamed of me because ... I'm NOT smarter than a Bible Bowler ... MAN, these kids are awesome!!!



Do you know ... what book the Ethiopian was reading when Philip caught up to him? Or how about ... who spoke after Paul and Barnabas at the Jerusalem Conference? Or maybe ... before dawn, on the 14th day of the storm, what did Paul encourage everyone to do?




If those aren't enough ... I have more ... I have FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX more facts that these AWESOME kids learned.

Our church, Sherwood, sponsors our 4th, 5th, and 6th grade children. These kiddoes study for about four months in preparation for this one day awesome event. We traveled to San Angelo this weekend, and met other children from not only another local church, but also kids from around West Texas such as Bronte, Robert Lee, San Angelo, etc. I think all total there were 8 different churches participating with about twenty six - three or four "bowler" teams. Then, these kiddoes were divided up between experienced (the ones that had been there at least one time) and inexperienced (obviously the ones that had not ever been before).

Enter Smiley

and Ranger ...

Well, my little darlin's were on the inexperienced teams ... the Ranger and Miss Smiley had not had the opportunity at our last church to participate. The church didn't do Bible Bowl ... wow ...what a missed opportunity!!! I know every church can't afford this, but WOW ... what a ministry for the "FUTURE" of the church!!! These guys were well, can I just say "AWESOME" one more time ... and I'm not braggin' about my kids ... I'm talking all of these kids were just well ... OUTSTANDING. Everyone of our kids missed less than 20% of the questions.

Okay, okay ... on with the 'splainin' Lucy ...

Six rounds of thirty questions each ... One Hundred Eighty Multiple-Choice Questions!

With all the kids missing less than 20% of the questions that means they got at least 144 right ... well, our lowest score out of our 18 children was 159!! That's right ... the most missed was 21 questions ... and that means that child only missed 11%. And to add to that outstanding accomplishment ... our kids had at the top end of the spectrum a 179/180, a 178/180, a 176/180 (the Ranger), and a 172/180 (Smiley) ... now isn't that just incredible!!!

One book of the Bible ... Acts!

Each kiddie has their own cubbie with "A,B,C" flip cards. They must listen to each question being read nice and slowly by a very well eunuciated voice, with their three choices, THEN they can flip their card. And I'm not talking about three choices that you or I could go oh yeah that was this one ... we are talking about three choices with just MINUTE differences in the answers.

Anyway ... we went ... we saw ... and we had a BLAST. And we've got the t-shirts to prove it!

Let's see ... you say you want pictures of this fun time ... well let's see ... let's start with my guy ... hehehe ... he took a day of vacation to get us (our family, not the church) ready. But hmmm, guess he will be taking a day of vacation next year since he committed to helping with Bible Bowl next year as in he wants to be a team leader. He is such a good earthly Father ... a whole lot too hard on himself, but such a good example for his children. Okay, now I'm gonna get all weepy if I don't move on ... but hey it is POWERFUL when you see God move! We just have seven more years of Bible Bowl ... maybe in seven years I'll be smarter than a Bible Bowler ... hehehehe!

Also, in this picture you can see my grinning Wolfman, and the back of the Georgia Peach Princess' head ... she had a one-sided-over-the-head-catch-all-the-bangs-you-can-braided-do that day. Sir Hiss-a-Lot was also running around there ... he just moves too fast for the camera. These three guys were just AWESOME too ... they stayed out of the way, out of trouble, and were EXTREMELY supportive of their older brother and sister, and their teammates, too.

You will also notice lots and lots and lots of uhm, yellow in these shots ... man, I'm telling you if I never see yellow again it will be TOO SOON!!! YELLOW - ouch - my eyeballs hurt from all the yellow ... And it wasn't a bad yellow ... it was a rather mellow-yellow ... it was just well ... I really don't like yellow! Hahahahahahaaaaaa !!!! But the design on those yellow shirts was rather awesome ... their theme was "where the Kingdom began" .... and boy howdy ... what a Kingdom it shall be with these awesome kiddoes there!!! Every "kingdom" should be so lucky to have subjects such as these learning it's history.

Enough for this morning ... I gotta catch my breath, beat the washer into submission, coax the drier, and get my little dwelling back to "un-packed" status!

Wind ...

Wind ... wind ... wind ....

Whatever happened to "in like a lion, and out like a lamb" ... I would love to know.

The wind has blown today at around 900 mph ... maybe more ... my head is just SWIRLING!



At church tonight we played "Are You Smarter Than a Bible Bowler?" WOW, our two Bible Bowlers might just be tough to beat. I can just imagine what the Wolf-man will be like for the next four years ... San Angelo watch out here comes the Wolf-man! Right now they better be careful because the sweet innocent smile of Miss Smiley is lethal when it comes to answering those multiple choice questions. She would reach over real stealthy like and press the buzzer - and then in her soft sweet voice just whip out that little answer with her award winning (not really but golly gee whizzy, Ms. Julia Roberts doesn't have a smile that pretty!) smile and just barely whisper her answer. LOL, she could charm the scales off a rattler with that smile. And then, there is the Ranger ... once he was able to take a breath ... well, let's just say there was no stopping him ringing that buzzer and answering those questions! He didn't need he multiple choice for most of his ... he just answered the quesiton flat out. AMAZING!!! My children amaze me daily!!!

I would like to say I have more to post about tonight ... but my allergies are KILLING me ... I have a horrid headache and I'm going to go find a quiet spot to lay down and crash for a few hours. I didn't get much sleep last night ... I snored all night. Needless to say, my poor Rooster finally got up and went to work at 3am ... just to be rid of me.

Nighty night ... dear friends ....

Yesterday ...

Wednesday in a Word ...

I love you more today, than yesterday, but not nearly as much as I will tomorrow ....

Happy Birthday ... to Miss Smiley

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday Miss Smiley,

Happy birthday to YOU!

It is hard to believe that this was you (Christmas 1998) just ten very short years ago. Where did all the time go Miss Smiley ...

Your Nini Angel was so very proud of you. My little chunky girl ... just weighing in at 9 lbs 8 oz. ... you made your big strappin' brothers looks rather small and helpless.

We brought you home from the hospital ... less than a day after you were born. I was so tired from labor, but I just wanted to get you home and get into my bed ... where I could cuddle you up and SLEEP while your Poppa Rooster watched over us.

Of course I should have known that the love affair was sealed between you and Nini Angel when she fed you mashed potatos and gravy your first Thanksgiving (shaking head). Your Poppa Rooster threatened her with driving you back to town where she could soothe your little gassy tummy ... unfortunately for her, see she would have loved to soothe you ... you nursed and slept through the night. ((Rolling-eyes)) So, at just three months old ... you started eating homemade babyfood.

And here you are now ...

So beautiful ...

Laughing and smiling ...

Enjoying your moment in the sun ...

You have become such a helpful, caring, young lady. Giving your best, caring for our family ... you have embraced the biblical sense of the world service, and actually enjoying blessing your family.

Finals Are Over and Rats Run to Play!!!

FINALLY - finals are OVER for the semester. This semester has really STUNK!!

And NOW it is time to PLAY!!!

We have had so much go on, that it was REALLY hard to focus on the semester. With Rooster's mom passing, Rooster changing jobs, and Rooster traveling back and forth from here to Oklahoma, to Sugarland, to Denver - and back around again, well it was really hard to focus and get everything done. AT LEAST I made a "B" in Algebra!!! WOOHOOO I AM DONE WITH MATH!!!


Shhhh don't tell me little homeschoolers that though ... they think they are supposed to LOVE all subjects!!!

Well, anyway ... since we had NO ELECTRICTY - TXU blew a fuse - GRRRRR TXU!!! I went to Starbucks to take another final, while Rooster and our munchkins went to the park to play.







Missy Smiley sitting upon a tenacle of a purple desert octopus.
















Mr. Hiss sitting upon another tenacle ...








The little "Lamb-a-kins" on her tenacle ...









And here is are my little indians perched up a "cactus" looking out over the "prairie" at Prairie Dog Pete's park. The clouds may look ominous, but it really was a BEAUTIFUL day ... it was cool but not too cool to run around in shorts and capri's!

Well, I made a "B" on that final, but honestly WHOOOO CARES!!! It's Economics and well, to be honest

WHO IN THE America UNDERSTANDS ECONOMICS ANYWAY!!!!!

Oh precious family of mine ... do you know how happy it makes me to see you all smiling and laughing!!!

My dear Pop's wanted to know why I wasn't using my SLR ... hahaha ... this is why, I couldn't immediately have a picture of him to have, hold, or see the way I can with my digi! Besides the fact that Kodak has yet to come out with a 420 count roll of film.

Dedicated to our Granny

I will never forget the day you sat in the recliner all day holding Bubba teaching him to blow raspberries ... and to this day he blows raspberries better than any of my other babies ...

Tomorrow is your day Granny ...

You have brought to this world two beautiful children ... my Rooster-love and my dearest Sister Sue, which in turn have brought into this world, 12 beautiful souls ... which in turn have brought into this world another 12 thus far.

A Valentine to Skip

Happy Valentines Day!

What a day! And sadly, it isn't anywhere near over.

We're on the road, with heavy hearts, traveling toward my mother in laws apartment in Gainesville. She is in the final stages of liver cancer. She is dying.

My husband and his sister have such a terrible burden to carry with this ... this is their last parent. Many do not understand this, as there mother was not ... well, in my personal opinion she does not deserve the love and devotion of the two children she is leaving behind. However, at this point and time this is neither here nor there, she is still their mother. And all of my energy MUST be focused on them NOW, not the past. The past it done, and cannot be changed.

It is 9 pm, we have just made it to Abilene ... about another four hours to go before we come near our destination.

As each mile clicks off on the odometer, Rooster looks down - I wonder is he clicking off the miles there or is he trying to postpone the inevitable. We stopped for a kiddie break back in Cahoma, TC and I slipped off for a potty break. She and I are transported back three years ago, when we lost our mother. The waiting, the uncertainty ... the utter rage at the unfairness ... why her, why us, why why WHY!!! All questions that are yet again unanswerable.

My children are softly snoring behind me, one rests on my shoulder - yet none of them sleep their usual carefree sleep. And trust me when I say it isn't because we are traveling ... my kids sleep like rocks when we head to town to the grocery store. Smiley-girl wonders why she doesn't know her Granny, G-Wolfie asks if this is going to be like when Nini died ... oh I pray not, I don't want her to die like my mother did, but yet I don't want her nor her children, nor the grands and great-grands to suffer either. Big Bubba is ignoring the whole scenario, and is just looking forward to seeing his family again. Baby-Girl and Sir Hiss-a-lot remember her vaguely from our trip to see Sister-Sue & Uncle Magic at Christmas a couple of years ago ...

The Key to my Heart ...

For some odd reason ... I love sepia pictures of my children.

The best family is the one you pick ...

Ha! Teri, I know, I know ... 3 days later!!

Me and the VISTA beast had to fight and argue a wee bit more, but I finally got all my software re-loaded. ROFL ... THEN, I had to figure out where everything was again ... I know whine whine whine ... sigh!!

This is a picture of G. Wolfie with our neighbor Mr. Joe. Joe has a granddaughter about the same age as G. Wolfie, and they hang out together. They are definitely best buddies! So, Mr. Joe takes the kids down to play with his goats, calves, and to buy cokes and candy!! Hehehe ... I decided I needed to document some of the time they spend together. These are the moments that G. Wolfie will always remember.

Stay tuned for more ... I had to get into the mood to scrap ... hehehehe ...

Vista is a BEAST

Have I ever explained just exactly how much I LOVE VISTA the crashing beast!! I was tooling right along ... bloggin', scrappin', and doing MY thing, minding MY business and THEN this beast named VISTA crashed my laptop AGAIN!! I had to do a complete system restore ... thankfully I have Gateway Backup otherwise NOT being a wise person this last month, I had NOTHING backed up to the external ... well, we are back up and in business, I have a new external drive, and I save NOTHING to the hard drive on the computer.

GRRR ... what a deal ... gee, I didn't even remember how long it had been ... December 23rd. That just drives me nuts ... I lost a lot of time!! Plus Christmas being in there ...

Oh oh oh ... my precious Roo bought me a digital camera for Christmas ... a Kodak Z712 IS. IT IS SO COOL. So, yes, I have been snapping pictures again. Today, I started working on a series that I want put together of my children for Christmas presents next year for our family. Photobucket has the best deal on QOOP goodies, they have either soft bound or hard bound books of pictures, and I can load them up for pretty reasonable prices. I'm thinking of doing a year or two at a time - just depends on the number of pictures I snap. The books are 8.5 x 10 I know my grandparents would LOVE to have something like that and Grand-Charlie has missed out on so much of the kids lives that I thought this would be a really cool way for him to be able to see them and what they do.

That is a really sad part of my life ... I have a grandfather, a dad, three brothers and countless aunts, uncles, and cousins that I, my husband, and my children never get to visit with because of one crossed wire with my step-mother. I have a very dear friend that says family is a four letter word. I tend to agree.

Ah, well .. we will be back on track tomorrow. I am going to scrap a bit tonight and then off to beddie bye!

Rooster love has two nights left and well, can we all say YEAH!!

His mid-winter semester class is a booger bear ... he took Macro Economics ... 15 chapters in 15 days ... he has finished nine of them ... bless his heart ... he has four exams to take and he will be DONE with that class. He is constantly amazed at how quickly school is flying by ... the Associates is completed, now we are on to complete the Bachelor's. Rooster loves being an Aggie; he is absolutely hilarious about his Aggie's!! Never in all my life thought he would go for being an Aggie considering the fact that he is a died in the wool Red Raider.

Well, it is time for me to sign off ... look for new scrap pages tomorrow ... until then ... have a wonderful evening ...

Broken

Well, it is official ... we have our first compound fracture ... and yes, it looks as bad as what the picture makes you THINK it looks like.

You see ... as most of my dear, dear friends know ... we live in West Texas ... with CACTUS, RATTLESNAKES, ROCKS, THORNS ... etc. etc. etc. So mean Mommy instituted the rule ... SHOES ON, when you are outside. Well, Nathaniel went to feed his animals last night, and dropped the 8lb barrel lid on his great toe of his left foot.

Bad enough that he BLEW his toe nail right off .. but he also broke his toe, which in turn ripped through the skin. We took him to the Emergency Room ... of course it WAS after 5pm **SIGH** so we had to go to MCH!! We sat there for SEVEN hours ... soaking gauze wraps and pads for hours. Nathaniel bled so much he painted the floor (yes, they made him WALK to the room - "oh, really now ... he isn't hurt THAT bad is he!!") and the bed, and the walls with his blood. YACK!! I would have hated to be the poor housekeeping person to clean that room ... especially after the PA finished setting his toe, and sewing him back up. Since the bone ripped through the skin, he is going to have to go see an Orthopedic Surgeon next Thursday - the 23rd. We have to make sure he does not get an infection in his bone marrow. They also have to check to see if he broke the growth plate in his toe - poor baby may have a stubby toe!! He has nine stitches - three in his nail bed, two on the side of his toe, and FOUR to hold the toe nail on keeping the nail fold in place and protecting the nail bed.



He is taking it all pretty well ... when my precious Rooster went to town to get his pain meds and his antibiotic, he picked him up some paints and a book to draw in. Of course that made him HERO Number 1 all over again for his son. I think today ... we will move him to the living room and let him sleep in here. Last night was not a pretty night at all ... but we survived ... well, with what little sleep we got ... we are surviving! We didn't get home until AFTER 2:30 am ... ugh!!




Until I blog again ... jess

Mountains Outta Molehills

Do you?... Do you make mountains out of molehills? I just finished reading the AOP Newsletter - Daily Focus and it gave me a good WHALLOP up side the head. One of those times, where you go, "YES FATHER, I am listening ... I am applying it to ME ... no one else!"

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27)


There is nothing in my life that is too hard for God to handle. But yet I find myself - struggling, hanging on to hurts, fighting anger and rage, withdrawing into my own world - as if I am the only person that has ever had to deal with my particular situation. ((SIGH)) Forgetting to be just thankful that I have the "problems" to deal with daily that I have ... instead of five little sticky pairs of hands to clean up after, I could have none.

Maybe it is more than just making mountains out of molehills, maybe it is also seeing the glass half full, instead of half empty. A negative spin always seems to make that molehill look more like Mt. Kilaminjaro, instead of the little handful of sand that it actually is.

Chocolate Milk

I love chocolate milk ... I love everything about it ... UNLESS it somehow ends up in my keyboard, on my mouse, mouse pad, desk top, pens, well, okay let's just say on EVERYTHING within a 3 foot radius of my desk is just coated in the sticky residual effects of chocolate milk. And to top it all off, I have a three year old standing the other side of the dining table sucking her thumb, asking me through the slats of the chair back "your 'puter okay Momma ?? I can do Polie Bear lessons?" Now, I ask you ... how in the world can you be mad at that. I can't ... See she knew she was doing a no no ... She knows she isn't supposed to be on Momma's desk with chocolate milk. But the picture on Momma's computer was just toooooo enticing for her to stand. My fault, no ... but I have to cut her a bit of slack. I tempted her sorely with my pictures.



Well, I have a sticky enter key, but other than that everything seems to be drying to a super sticky state quite nicely. Chocolate milk is back at the table, and I still have my pictures scrolling by. And the funny thing is ... it was a picture of herself that was flashing by on my screensaver.



She is so funny ... I love the awe and amazement that fills her sweet face when she sees herself in pictures.